SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Nearly 16 years after murder charges against a Montana man were dropped, authorities have re-arrested him in the case.
Thomas Jaraczeski, 41, moved to Brandon, S.D., just east of here in the intervening years to get a fresh start. He got married in Las Vegas, got divorced here and is the father of two teenage boys.
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But the death of veterinarian Bryan Rein, 31, on July 14, 1996, at a mobile home outside Geraldine, Mont., has come back to haunt him. Jaraczeski was arrested here Wednesday, booked into the Minnehaha County jail as a fugitive from justice, and is awaiting extradition to Montana where he will be charged with deliberate homicide, according to Sara Rabern of the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation. His bail will be $500,000 on his return to Montana.
Jaraczeski is accused of shooting Rein with the victim’s own .357 Magnum after stalking him because Rein was dating Jaraczeski’s ex-girlfriend. The previous charges were dropped in 1998 when a judge tossed out evidence from a tracking dog that appeared to link Jaraczeski to the crime.
At the time, Montana investigators vowed to continue to search for evidence linking Jaraczeski to the crime. Homicides are so rare in Montana’s Chouteau County that the next murder didn’t happen until 11 years later.
But an affidavit filed with the fresh murder charges in the 1996 killing does not specify what new evidence prosecutors have unearthed. The affidavit, filed in Montana and signed April 25, says the motive for the shooting death was jealousy.
Rein began dating Jaraczeski’s high school and college girlfriend after she broke up with Jaraczeski the previous month. Rein lived in a trailer on a farm near the Jaraczeski family farm, the court papers say.
Jaraczeski had been living and working in Great Falls, Mont, about 70 miles away but quit his job after the breakup to return to his family’s farm, closer to Rein’s residence.
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In spring and summer 1996, several witnesses said Jaraczeski would regularly call his ex and hang up, call Rein and hang up, and drive by bars looking for the couple.
Jaraczeski also had shown up at Rein’s trailer east of Geraldine and asked to use the phone at least once. Other witnesses reported seeing headlights in the driveway and strange vehicles driving past slowly.
On July 12, 1996, Jaraczeski’s ex-girlfriend called Rein and was surprised to find him home, believing he would be away at a conference until the following day. She told police that she felt uncomfortable with the abrupt end to their conversation, hearing the telephone disconnect before Rein said, “Goodbye.”
Rein rented his trailer and the property owner came by July 14, 1996, finding him dead on the kitchen floor with a .357 Magnum near his hand. Rein had two gunshot wounds to the arm and one to the chest.
His body showed signs of a struggle, including a swollen eye and a ripped shirt. The trailer had blood spattered from the back door of Rein’s trailer to the kitchen, court papers say.
Jaraczeski injured his back July 12, the last night anyone heard from Rein. He told doctors he had fallen from the back of his truck that evening.
In an interview with the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Jaraczeski said he’d been to the Rein trailer only once and had never been inside. He admitted that he had called Rein on the night of the murder but said he stayed home the rest of the evening.
In a later interview, he said he had been inside the trailer once but that it was only to see whether his ex-girlfriend was there. In yet another interview, he said he had been inside, that he might have touched the telephone and that “there was a possibility” that he’d touched some cartridges on the table.
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A friend of Rein told police that Rein owned a .357 for several years.
Numerous friends and associates of Rein had alibis for the night of the murder, the affidavit says. And each of them said they knew of no one who wished to harm their friend.
“Investigators were not able to locate a single witness who could confirm the defendant’s whereabouts from the early evening of July 12, 1996, to the morning of July 13, 1996,” the affidavit said.
Jaraczeski originally was charged in 1998, but the case never went to trial. A judge ruled that bloodhound evidence placing him near a windbreak near Rein’s trailer was not admissible, causing former Montana Attorney General John Connor to drop the case.
Jaraczecki moved to the Sioux Falls area in 1999.
He and his former wife were divorced in 2008. His ex-wife took out a protection order against him in 2008, alleging domestic abuse, but dropped it a year later.
Jaraczeski’s criminal record in South Dakota is limited to three traffic tickets.
Rein’s mother and father have died since the initial charges were brought. His mother, Shirley Rein, died in October.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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